


Pick it up baby, if I'm moving too slow

by AllotropicBi



Series: Water [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 2017-2018 NHL Season, Christmas, Edmonton Oilers, Gratuitous holiday fluff, M/M, Oops I gave him some personality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 17:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13172046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllotropicBi/pseuds/AllotropicBi
Summary: “I just wish I could come home and see you guys, even for a day.”In which Connor takes it upon himself to improve Leon's Christmas season (note: romance him.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you recognize a name personally, turn around, close the tab, never come back. 
> 
> I had the intention of posting this on Christmas, which obviously didn't happen mostly because this got longer than I thought it would. I resisted writing this stupid prompt through all of my finals, so that in itself is an accomplishment. 
> 
> Thanks to Ken, who has rambled with me for nights about these boys under different circumstances and brought up this prompt (re: one of them bringing the other home for christmas with bonus points if they aren't in an established relationship yet), and for giving me the opportunity to see Leon Draisaitl in all his babely glory as well as Connor's stunning blue eyes. Thanks to Jay, for reassuring me, being impatient, and giving me ideas. Thanks to Sarah, for always encouraging the trash in me and dragging me into hockey. And thanks to that one friend (you know who you are) who insists she won't read my shit for the sake of our friendship (if you do and you enjoy it, please let me know). 
> 
> For a reference made in chapter two, make sure to watch [this dumb video](https://www.goauto.ca/97?mc_cid=4b7b657700&mc_eid=0c0fcedaeb)
> 
> [Title from SGL by Now, Now]

Connor’s always had a thing about keeping his private life separate from his work life. And sure, that’s no novel philosophy, and it’s not like people with office jobs don’t leave their burdens as soon as they hop in the car and get home, but hockey is different. Being in the spotlight makes it hard to keep the two things separate, because it’s hard to have an identity outside of ‘Connor McDavid’ that’s just _Connor_. So he does what he can and keeps his personal issues aside, taking on the lead of a captain and making sure his boys don’t see too much of the other stuff, even if they are his family and he would trust them with all of it. It’s just not a comfortable thing for him to do. With what little personal life he has, he’d like to hold onto it.

That being said, Connor isn’t heartless. He knows his boys aren’t the same way, and they have every right to deal with their lives in their own ways, so he steps in and tries to be supportive when the situation calls for it. No one’s too thrilled when he does, though, because it’s usually awkward for all parties involved. Who figured training your whole life to be a superstar athlete would take up all the time you had available to develop a personality and social connections?

It takes him by surprise when he notices Leon’s off kilter. Leon’s normally the most composed, steadfast guy that can shrug off most things and deal with it on his own, get over it in a day. But the thing is, he’s been sulking for a little over a week now and Connor can’t figure out why. At first he thought it was because of their inability to pick up momentum and string together some games, but he crossed that out when he saw Drai giving Nursey a well needed pep talk over how not being able to rope in more than three consecutive wins wasn’t the end of the world (yet, at least).

If anything, Leon’s a bit like Connor in the respect that he holds his family and private life dear and he tends not to overshare. Not surprisingly, Leon is still immensely better at consoling his teammates than Connor, somehow perfecting the balance of being closed off enough that he has his life outside of hockey, but appearing open to everyone.

The only other thing he can immediately think of is the drought Leon’s been facing. It’s not something anyone wants to vocalize, because a dry spell isn’t uncommon for players, especially coming off an injury. And that brings up the case of Leon’s concussion. Connor also makes a point of not listening to media critique his workmanship too much, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know that everyone’s going to be saying Leon’s not been playing the same since. It makes his skin crawl. Who are they to say, to know, to judge? Having been on that end of the scrutiny before – prior to having established his ‘ignore the media’ rule – Connor knows its an ugly deal, figures it’s enough to be dragging Leon down.

It’s after their 4-6 loss to Toronto that Connor decides its time to step up and talk, thinking maybe Leon’s going to be harder on himself tonight for not getting a point. He waits a while for everyone else to head up, expecting Leon to still be around for their regular post-game talks, but when he gets there he hears Leon talking in a hushed voice on the phone. He listens for a split second, Leon switching between German and English in a tone that makes Connor’s gut twist. He feels like he’s intruding on something personal and is about to leave when Leon says, “I just wish I could come home and see you guys, even for a day.”

Something about the desperation and helplessness in Leon’s tone makes Connor’s throat close up, and he turns on his heel and heads to his room. He texts Leon not to worry about their post-game tonight and doesn’t bother keeping an eye out for a reply.

···

He feels responsible to make things easier on Leon in a way he can’t explain. And yeah, he doesn’t like getting involved, but it’s an easy and small thing to do. He almost feels guilty that he can hop on a plane to see his parents and be back in the same day without any major toll on his health. Connor briefly wonders if it’s that guilt that’s driving him, but he doesn’t dwell on it too long, choosing instead to start planning out things he can do for Leon.

Granted he’s terrible at coming up with any meaningful ideas on his own, and he’s not going to waste valuable time by being too stubborn to admit it.

“Nurse?”

Darnell hums from the kitchen, turning around to reveal his stupid, well-stained ‘kiss the chef’ apron.

“What can we do for Leon?”

“For Leon? What do you mean?”

Connor lifts a shoulder in a half shrug, scrunching his face. “I heard him talking on the phone the other day. He misses his family a lot with all the, you know,” Connor pauses, waving his hands in the air. “Holiday family stuff. Wanted to do something so he’s not so sulky all the time.”

“Oh, _that’s_ why he’s been like that?” Nurse asks, frowning briefly. “I mean, Mikayla and I were planning on going to Castrol when we get back from Calgary to kill time and start the Christmas hype, he can join us.” He pauses, turning to stir the sauce he’s making. “It’d probably be good if you come too though, or else it’ll feel too third-wheely.”

“So instead you want it to be fourth-wheely?”

“Four wheels to a car, right?”

Connor scoffs and rolls his eyes, settling back into the couch for a quick nap. “Yeah, I’ll take you up on that. Thanks.”

···

Connor doesn’t know why, but when he’s sitting with Leon reviewing tape the night before the game in Calgary, he can’t quite manage to tell him about the plans he’s arranged for them for the coming Monday. It’s silly really – Leon might already have plans, but then it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle to tell Nurse that they had to back out. He feels self conscious of the whole thing, like if he were to ask it would be like holding up a giant flashing neon sign that said, “ _I heard you talking in a private conversation!_ ”

Thankfully he’s been considering a backup plan, just in case Leon _does_ have plans for that night. That plan relies entirely on Connor being able to guess Leon’s phone’s passcode in the minutes Leon leaves to go piss. It’s bad, he knows, but he’s not snooping. He just needs a number that he doesn’t know how else to get. When he hears the click of the bathroom door locking, Connor stares blankly at Leon’s screen, demanding the four-digit passcode. It’s not a longer one with letters, thank god, but even then that leaves Connor with more possibilities than he can hack out in the span of two minutes.

“This is ridiculous,” he mutters, trying a combination of Leon’s birthday, and his jersey number with it, praying to Gretzky that Leon won’t notice if his phone is locked for a half minute once he gets back. Connor frowns, his heart beating loudly with the nervous adrenaline. Could it be his own _name_? Surely not, Connor thinks. But then again…

_5 3 6 6_

“Oh my _god_ ,” Connor mutters, half falling over on the couch to shove his face into a pillow so he can grin into it without laughing his ass off. He wonders if there’s anyone he can actually tell that to without getting beady eyes asking him why he was breaking into Leon’s phone, and then he abruptly remembers the task at hand. He dives into Leon’s contacts, looking under K and–

_Jackpot_.

He quickly snaps a picture of the contact information on his own phone, closes the app, and takes it back to the home screen just as the flush sounds. It takes a lot of self control not to toss Leon’s phone half way across the room in attempts to not look suspicious, but he manages to set it down right back where it was, heart racing when Leon walks out of the bathroom and asks Connor if he should lay a few solid hits on Gaudreau.

Connor considers it a win that the holiday gods are on his side to get this good deed done without any hitches.

···

Back at home after their acceptable win over fuckin’ Cowtown, Connor finally gets a chance to deal with the task he’d set out to put in motion.

_Hey Kim, it’s Connor._ Connor’s thumbs dance above the screen when he doesn’t get an immediate reply. _Like, McDavid._ He cringes, immediately regretting the text and wishing he could delete it.

Thankfully, her prompt reply chooses not to acknowledge Connor’s dumb introduction.

Kim: _Connor! Hey, what’s up? Did Leon give you my number?_

Connor groans quietly, realizing he’ll have to tell the truth if he wants to keep the secret. _Uh… no?_

Kim: _Oh?_

_I kind of… broke into his phone. It was really easy, his passcode is his name, he’s stupid. But please don’t tell him that, I swear I only did it with good intentions._

It takes a minute for the next reply to come through, and Connor almost thinks his cover is blown.

Kim: _I’ll bite. What are your intentions?_

Kim: _And why didn’t you just message me on instagram or something?_

_Because I don’t follow you and I didn’t want to start all of a sudden and have him ask me about it._

Kim: _You’re being weird. What is this about? Is Leon okay?_

_He’s fine! Yeah, god no, I’m sorry. Just…_

Connor falls back into the pillows on his bed, typing out his request with laser focus. Man, he hopes Kim will be cool about this.

It’s not until Nurse raps on his door that he remembers about the lights.

“You didn’t tell Drat, did you?” Nurse asks with a sigh, knowing Connor well enough to not be surprised by the deer-in-headlights look on his face. “I’m headed over to see Nuge about Christmas shopping, I’ll ask him while I’m there.”

“Thanks,” Connor says sheepishly, holding his phone to his chest.

“Just tell me what I like to hear,” Nurse demands as he walks away.

Connor rolls his eyes, but obliges as he must and shouts, “You’re the best!”

“Damn right, I am!”

 

When Monday night rolls around, Connor heads over to Leon’s apartment to drag him down to Nurse’s car.

“Ready?” Connor asks, stepping in when Leon opens the door.

“Yeah,” Leon says hurriedly, wrapping a scarf around his neck. He points at Connor’s bare neck and says, “You want one?”

Connor shrugs. “I can handle a wind, it’s probably not even lower than zero out there.”

“Connor you’ve been sick half this season, I’m not going to be the one responsible for letting it happen again.” With that, Leon ignores Connor’s complaints and shoves an ugly Oilers scarf at Connor, hiding his shit-eating grin into his own scarf.

“Seriously. That’s the only other scarf you own.”

“Yep.”

“I’ll go and get one from my room then,” Connor says, rolling his eyes and reaching his arm out to put the scarf on the counter. Before he can let it go, Leon grabs Connor’s arm and turns him around, pushing him out the door.

“Don’t want to make Nurse angry. You won’t like him when he’s angry,” Leon jokes, locking the door behind him all while keeping a close enough eye on Connor to make sure he doesn’t make a run for it.

Once they reach the raceway, everyone but Leon is complaining about the long lineup of cars entering the circuit. “Shouldn’t they have, like, an express lane for people like us,” Nurse says sarcastically, lolling his head to one side. Mikayla rolls her eyes and pushes his head back up straight, turning around to face Connor and Leon in the back.

“So what’re your guys’ plans for the holidays? Staying here, going home?”

Connor freezes up, cautious of the delicate subject matter, but Leon just shrugs and answers that he’ll be staying here with about as much ease as he would order lunch with. Connor’s not really surprised though, given that Leon can sometimes mask his enthusiasm even on a game-winning goal. Still.

“I’ll probably be going home,” Connor says tentatively, and Mikayla starts asking about Connor’s hometown, but Connor tries instead to change the topic. Thankfully, she’s more than happy to divulge her and Darnell’s extensive list of holiday “Things To Do” list.

“Candy floss,” Leon points out when they roll up to the payment booth. Connor doesn’t even give Leon a chance to reach for his wallet, handing over a twenty and waving off Leon’s thanks.

“What good is a 20 million dollar contract difference if you can’t buy your man some cotton candy, huh?” Nurse teases, and Leon leans forward in his seat to smack him upside the head before giving Connor his change back.

Connor watches the small smile linger on Leon’s lips as he opens the packet, then tears off a piece and offers it to Connor.

“This probably isn’t on par with our meal plans,” Connor drawls, and Leon gives Connor the most unimpressed look he can muster, which is pretty solid.

“It’s the holiday season, it’s basically a cheat month,” Leon says, and Connor can’t really argue with that, so he takes the chunk from Leon’s fingers and pops it in his mouth, scrunching his nose as the sickly sweet candy melts on his tongue. He catches Leon laughing at him before eating some himself and passing it forward, and Connor must have some sort of innate primitive sweet tooth that makes him want more, because he can’t seem to look away when Leon licks the tips of his fingers.

The lights are nice, albeit slow to drive through. Darnell complains at least twice about the woman at the front who told him in a placating voice, “I’m going to need you to drive between 5 to 10 kilometers,” along with some other junk when the majority of the drive is spent well below 5 kmph. At the start it’s pretty evenly split between which side the lights are on, and Connor has seen some pretty grand displays in his hometown, so he’s not totally in awe of these. He spends most of his time enjoying the content, pleasant expression on Leon’s face.

Towards the end, all the lights are on Connor’s side of the car, and Leon pouts, moving to the middle seat and leaning his head on Connor’s shoulder to get a better look out the window. “Are those… seals playing hockey? Oh my god,” Leon mutters, watching as the lights dance, a green puck moving between the players until one of the seals makes a shot towards the net, and – “No… Nooooooo,” Leon groans, and the puck goes in the net, the light above the goal flashing red. Leon buries his face into Connor’s neck, laughing at the display. “That’s ridiculous. And where’s their 97, huh?”

Connor snorts and flicks Leon’s nose. “Why would they need a 97?”

“To win, duh. Seriously, how can they have a whole circuit of lights like this just outside of the city and not have a 97? There was a bus outside that said ‘City of Champions’ and they can’t even get a light for their beloved captain?”

Connor flushes, rolling his eyes and pushing Leon off him so he sits up straight. Leon laughs, moving back to the other passenger seat. When they see someone standing on the left side to say goodbye, Leon’s eyes light up. He rolls down the window and leans out a bit as they get closer, and Connor barely hears the guy’s ‘Merry Christmas’ before Leon is yelling, “Hey, where’s your ninet–” His exclamation is suddenly muffled by Connors hand over his mouth, and Leon fights it off, frowning exaggeratedly when the guy is too far away for Leon to finish his sentence.

“Santa to the left! Here’s your chance!” Darnell shouts, slowing the car down just a little. Leon grabs both of Connor’s hands in his to keep him from sabotaging him this time, and then leans out again.

“Hey Santa, you guys need to get a light for McDavid!”

“Is that what you want for Christmas?” Santa jokes.

Leon shakes his head and forces Connor into view and says, “No, but this guy is pretty upset about the lack of support from you guys.”

They’re almost past Santa when they hear a quiet, “Ho-ho-holy shit,” and it makes Leon laugh so hard that he finally lets go of Connor’s hands, leaving himself open to the few weak punches Connor throws at him.

“Hey, that’s not nice!”

“Boys, play nice back there or I’ll have to ground you both.”

“Whatever, dad,” Connor retorts, and Mikayla laughs, and it’s only then that Connor realizes she was recording the whole thing. Man, it’ll be fun to see if he ever gets to live that one down.

The circuit ends with a tunnel of string lights, and while Connor has to admit it looks pretty cool, he finds himself distracted by the way the lights dance off of the slants of Leon’s features.

···

They’re in town for a while that week, so Connor manages to get lots of small stuff in for Leon. He starts pretty standard, with some Chel and pizza after they get back from the lights, but the nights after he gets a few of the guys to join them in a drinking game of Monopoly with Elf playing on the TV in the background. Somehow, Jujhar is the one to run them all bankrupt into the ground.

The night before they leave for Montreal, however, Connor is tied up in plans to the Benning’s farm for dinner, and well. It just sort of happens.

“Do you think it’d be cool if Leon joined us too?”

Matt looks at him funny. “Of course, you know my family loves all of you, the more the merrier. ‘Tis the season, and all that shit, right? Mi casa es su casa?”

Connor huffs. “Could you… Maybe ask him?”

“Sure, why?”

“I just don’t want him to think it’s an extended invite. Direct is better, you know?”

“Okay, sure,” he says, glancing at Connor thoughtfully again. “I would’ve asked him before, actually, I just wasn’t sure he’d be interested in joining. He’s come over a couple times, but yeah. It’ll be fun.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Connor leaves the room in a hurry, feeling suddenly vulnerable, though he can’t pinpoint why.

The whole time they’re at dinner, Connor keeps catching Leon’s eye across the table. It makes him quieter than usual.

···

The road-trip feels _great_. Everyone knows that the unfortunate loss point against Toronto wasn’t fair, but sadly the numbers don’t care what’s fair and what’s not. But still, it energizes the whole team to come home off of such a good run.

And what’s better is that Connor’s little deeds seem to be doing something for Leon’s spirits. He didn’t get to do much on their roadie though, so he makes a stop at Starbucks when he’s on his way back from practice, Leon carpooling with him and spitting fire about Nashville even when they pull up to the drive-thru window. Connor doesn’t even bother asking Leon what he wants, ordering two grande chestnut praline lattes. When he hands Leon’s drink to him, Leon stops mid-rant like he had no collection of his surroundings for the last ten minutes, and grins brightly at Connor when he wraps his hands around the cup.

If that didn’t make Connor certain of his achievements, Leon seems more relaxed on the ice during warm-up the next night than he had the previous weeks. He tries not to watch him too much, but notices with a warmth in his chest when Leon feels playful enough to skate up and photobomb a selfie one of the fans is taking with the ice. It feels good, and during their ritual pre-game talk, Leon and Nurse fall back into their witty banter that makes Connor laugh every time without fail. All in all, it feels like everyone is in the right mindset to pull out a win on last year’s Western Conference champions.

The first period is brutal. They play hard, exhaust themselves, make so many shots, but nothing fucking gets _in_. It’s not even like the saves are phenomenal, and the defence isn’t that much better than theirs, but somehow the Predators manage to keep it a scoreless game with only four shots on goal to the Oilers’ twenty-two. It stings, but during the intermission Connor tries to keep their chins up. If they keep the energy and the pressure up, there has to be a goal somewhere.

 

_Every game is a new game_.

It’s all Connor has rattling around his head after the heavy 0-4 home loss. It’s hard to keep the phrase going when he’s the reason one of those goals went in, having taken a stupid penalty when they were already down a man. The locker room is dead quiet that night, and the post-game raws go to the most level-headed of the lot, Looch and Klef. It’s not so big a deal being regular season, but the deeper they get and the more losses they accumulate no matter how hard they try, the drearier things get.

Some games it’s not so easy to assume the position of a captain and move forward from stupid mistakes, but every time Connor feels himself being dragged down by it, he sees his teammates looking glum and remembers he’s responsible for them. So he picks up the slack and pretends like this is okay, they will be better next game. Whether or not it’s true, it’s his job, so he lets go of his frustrations for now and goes about giving his boys small nods and pats for reassurance.

Leon’s rigid when Connor gets around to him, doesn’t even jerk his head to acknowledge Connor’s light shoulder slap like he does after other losses. And just like that, Connor feels his work undone. Leon only got one shot the whole game and it’s clear as day that it didn’t sit well with him.

When they get home, Connor drops his stuff in his apartment and heads straight down to Leon’s, fidgeting with his fingers as he waits for Leon to open up. It takes a minute or two, and Connor’s about to knock again when the door opens slowly. Leon swears under his breath when he sees Connor, rolling his eyes but still letting him in.

“God, Con, _what_? I don’t need any of your peppy Christmas shit right now, okay?”

Connor stands just in front of the now closed door, an eyebrow raised at Leon. When Leon doesn’t hear a reply from Connor, he turns around to look at him and sighs, deflating as the frustration leaks out of him.

“Sorry, that was… I’m an asshole.” Connor still doesn’t say anything, knowing that Leon will fill the gap if given enough time, so he follows Leon to the couch and waits.

“I just… _fuck_.”

“You’re doing fine, okay?” Connor says firmly, because despite everything, Leon has to be sure of how good he is. “I know how hard you’re trying, and you’re doing fine, you just need to rela–” Connor stops short, cringing as soon as the word leaves his lips.

Leon lets out a curt, sour laugh, and it hits Connor right in the gut. “Easy for you to say. You’re the golden boy, McJesus, everyone already calls you the next Gretzky. Meanwhile I’m out there doing _fine_ and barely scraping up enough performance to prove that I’m worth the money.”

Connor frowns, letting Leon’s thoughts cycle through his head a few times, being patient with his response so he doesn’t say something stupid like ‘relax’ again.

“Here’s the deal: you’re a good player, you know it, I know it, the same fucking media that questions you for any inconsistency between games that praised the living hell out of you last year knows it. Last year wasn’t just a lucky season, for any of us, and certainly not for you. You know better than anyone that it’s normal to have a drought, and that your career doesn’t go down the drain after one lucky year. You’re working harder than you did last year, and it will pay off, I promise. But until then, this is the only pep talk you’re getting out of me.”

It goes quiet for a while. Leon shuffles, looking conflicted and oddly vulnerable. He licks his lips, breathes in like he’s about to say something, but then stops and thinks better of it. Then, in a voice so small that it throws Connor off: “Connor, I-I’ve not been the same since I came off IR.”

And yeah, Connor’s not letting that one linger. “I know Leon, but part of that is you stopping yourself. I’ve been through this, I know what the mental block is like, but… I trust in you, Leon. The whole team trusts in you. You just need to trust in yourself.”

The silence builds again, Leon wringing his hands when it starts ringing too loudly in his ears. Connor watches Leon with concern, and leans into the couch to make it clear that he’ll be there as long as Leon needs.

Then Connor gets a bright idea. He sits up straighter, stomach fluttering almost unnoticeably. “You’re coming home with me for the holidays.”

Leon looks up from his hands, brows drawn together. “What?”

“Leon, you need to wind down. You’ve not been away from hockey for a beat since your injury, and you need time to clear your head of it. I might trust you with a lot, but I don’t trust you to just chill over the break while I’m gone, and I don’t trust any of the guys here to keep you away from it totally.”

Leon scoffs at that, but it only serves to fuel Connor’s tenacity. “Ok so you’re telling me you won’t go to the rink every day to get some practice in?”

“No.”

“You won’t watch reels back every night trying to figure out where you went wrong?”

“No,” Leon repeats, sounding more bitter and petulant this time, because Connor knows him too fucking well and he’s not happy about it.

“And you won’t–”

“Jesus _fuck_ , Connor! I’ll go with you, okay? Just leave me alone.” Leon grimaces mildly at the sharpness in his own tone, but doesn’t say anything more before retreating to his room.

Call Connor stubborn, but instead of doing as he’s told he heads to Leon’s kitchen and searches around for the necessary ingredients, whipping up a mean cup of hot chocolate, topped with Leon’s guilty pleasure sweet-as-hell marshmallows. He washes up as quickly as he can so the drink doesn’t cool too much, then goes to Leon’s room. The door is open despite Leon’s outburst, Leon lying facedown on his bed. Connor puts the mug on the bedside table closest to Leon and finally takes his leave.

Later that night, he books two tickets to Toronto for the morning of Christmas Eve.

···

Tuesday rolls around, and most of the crew is gathered in the common rooms when Looch and Pat come in bearing the sweet, sweet fruits of the mail pickup.

“Care package time! Time to see whose family actually cares about them!” Strome shouts, summoning anyone nearby to join. Leon’s already there, curled up into the corner of the sectional in his team Europe hoodie. Connor gets a text from him that reads _mail time_ and rushes downstairs, stomach jumping into his throat. Earlier that morning, Connor received a screenshot from Kim showing a delivery confirmation, and he’s been antsy ever since. When he gets there he lingers at the edge of the room, making sure he’s got a clear view of Leon.

Pat and Looch start calling out names and passing them out, and with some of the guys wearing dumb sweaters and the tinsel that Jesse put up, it almost feels like Christmas. Connor doesn’t get one, but that’s not what he cares about; his family visits enough to bring his care packages to him personally, anyhow.

Finally Pat calls out Leon’s name, causing Leon to look up in surprise. “It’s the heaviest one, someone out there must really love you,” Pat teases, passing the box over. Unfamiliar warmth spreads through Connor when he catches the way Leon’s eyes light up as he reads his sister’s name on the shipping label. He feels nervous all of a sudden, and follows the few people that head back upstairs to open their goodies away from grabby hands.

···

_< 3<3<3<3<3_

Kim: _Leon!!! <3 what’s up?_

_Don’t act all sly. Thanks for the package._

Kim: _Ha, don’t thank me ;)_

_?? Then who? Ma?_

Kim: _:-)_

···

Connor isn’t expecting anyone, least of all Leon, to show up at his door only moments after he came back upstairs.

“You had something to do with this, right?”

Connor swallows and decides to play it dumb. “What do you mean?”

“The package? From my sister?”

“What gives you that idea?”

Leon steps closer, squinting at Connor. “So you’re saying it wasn’t you, yeah?”

Connor hesitates, feeling like if he were to lie with Leon standing this close, Leon would somehow be able to suss him out.

“Knew it. Come on.” Without any further hassle, Leon drags Connor down to his apartment and makes Connor sit down on the floor with him, the box sitting between them. “What’s in it?”

“I don’t know.”

Leon doesn’t roll his eyes, but Connor can still _feel_ it. “Bullshit.”

“Open it and find out! How’d you know it was me anyway?”

Leon snorts and unlocks his phone, at which Connor feels a little guilty, and proceeds to show Connor the texts Leon exchanged with his sister, then says, “Through all the holiday shit that was happening there was one common factor, and guess what that was?”

Connor shrugs meekly. “Me.”

“Bingo. Okay, whatever, I like presents so I’m going to stop interrogating you for now.”

“Thank god for that,” Connor mumbles under his breath, which earns him a raised eyebrow.

Leon pulls out a set of keys from his back pocket and rips through the tape on the box, opening it to reveal a very neat arrangement of boxes, all wrapped in their own Christmas-themed paper. Leon laughs airily, his cheeks going a little pink as he picks out one on the top and begins to carefully unwrap it.

Connor’s stomach flutters with anticipation, and he takes the chance to drink up the unfiltered excitement Leon is radiating. Part of him finds it sweet how thoughtful he’s being with the wrapping paper, and the other part of him is trying to not think too hard on why he might be feeling that way.

“Duplo,” Leon says with a grin, and shows it to Connor. “It’s good chocolate. We’ll have some in a bit, I wanna open the rest first.”

Connor waves his hand in a ‘go ahead’ gesture, watching Leon’s hands work on the next box. His grin doesn’t wane any, and it makes something inside Connor warm. The pile grows, with a few packs of Haribo coke bottles and creamy ices, Milka Daim, Ritter Sport, Toffifee, Happy Hippos, and Milch-Schnitte.

“I know you can get some of them here, but Kim said you’d enjoy the authenticity of the German writing on the boxes,” Connor mutters while Leon sets aside a box of Asbach brandy chocolate bottles.

The second last box is a tin of what appears to be shortbread cookies with a piece of paper attached to it, a neat script of _Mama_ on the front. Leon’s fingers ghost over the writing, a strange look on his face. He sniffs and sort of glances in Connor’s direction, but doesn’t say anything. Then he opens the tin, his chin dropping to his chest with a small laugh and a shake of his head when he sees what’s inside.

“What is it?” Connor asks, because for the most part he told Kim to put in what was good and didn’t think to ask for a list of the contents.

Leon laughs breathlessly and rubs a hand over his face, finally looking at Connor with a sheepish but unmistakably happy look in his eyes. “Homemade biscuits. Christmas ones, mostly. Vanillekipferl,” Leon says, picking up a crescent-shaped biscuit with powdered sugar dusted over the top. He continues picking up a few different ones and naming them for Connor. “Spritzgebäck, zimtsterne, kokosmakronen, butterplätzchen, lebkuchen. God, Connor. I…”

“There’s one more,” Connor prompts, wanting instinctively to avoid anything awkward and too emotional. Granted, it was kind of a given hazard in doing this for Leon, but he didn’t expect Kim to include a box of homemade cookies from Leon’s mom. That was bound to put him over the edge.

Leon rolls his eyes and mutters something about impatience before reaching into the bottom of the box for the final gift. He opens it just as carefully as he had all the others, and snorts when he reveals another layer of wrapping paper and a card falls onto his lap, clearly something Kim couldn’t resist. Then once he gets the last layer off, Leon’s smile drops, his cheeks reddening. There’s a winky face drawn on a sticky note that Leon quickly scrunches up and tosses aside, throwing Connor a glance and ending with a nervous chuckle.

“It’s uh… It’s stupid,” he says, cringing as he turns the box around to let Connor read, in clear orange and brown writing: Super Dickmann’s.

Connor’s face contorts with confusion, but he quickly falls into a fit of giggles. One of the laughs goes the wrong way, and Connor finds himself coughing forcefully between the laughs that he can’t seem to stop.

When Connor finally composes himself, Leon’s laughing to himself warmly, and Connor feels like this was probably the smartest decision he’s made all year. Given a second chance, he wouldn’t do anything differently.

Then Connor sees something flying towards him, and he catches it in front of his face with what was obviously a tighter than necessary grip, because whatever it is just squished between his fingers. “Ugh, what _is_ this?” Connor asks, looking into his hands to find a crushed chocolate shell with a white marshmallow filling.

“It’s a Super Dickmann, man,” Leon drawls, drawing a geeky laugh out of Connor.

“Why do these even exist?” Connor demands, and goes to find something to wipe his hands off with.

“I don’t know, some guy’s idea of a joke, I guess. In German ‘dick’ means thick or big, and ‘mann’ means… man. So it’s like super thick man, or chunky man.”

“So you mean it’s you, Leon?” Connor jokes, too busy wiping the melting chocolate off his fingers to catch Leon’s widening eyes. “Is that why Kim put the winky face on there, is that some sort of inside joke you guys have?”

Leon groans. “Sort of.”

Connor laughs a bit and sits back on the floor to inspect the pile of goodies. “Alright. So where do we begin?”

···

Leon ends up convincing Connor they’ll eat a Super Dickmann together on the count of three, but Leon doesn’t hold up his end of the deal and opts for whipping out his phone to get the most humiliating photo of Connor shoving the top half of a Super Dickmann into his mouth. Connor ends up grabbing a second one and crushing it against Leon’s forehead. It’s pretty awesome.

 


	2. Chapter 2

After much stubbornness from Connor, Leon beats Connor in paying for and driving their rental car. “You got the plane tickets, it’s only fair. And there’s no way I’m letting you drive, you need to rest your ankle.”

“It was my left ankle, Leon,” Connor whines. “It’s an automatic, I don’t drive with my left foot.”

“I don’t care, it’s under my name now and I decide who I trust to drive it without wrecking it, and I don’t trust you.”

“Fuck you.” Connors ankle throbs faintly in its bandaging, and Connor feels like his own body is mocking him. “Fuck you, too,” he mutters to it, and Leon raises an eyebrow at him from the steering wheel.

“Talking to your foot? Definitely unfit to drive. Now tell me where to go.”

 

“I don’t think anyone’s ever complimented me on my navigational skills before,” Connor muses when the car pulls to a stop in Connor’s parents’ driveway.

“Don’t get too used to compliments from me, I don’t make a habit of it.”

“As if I hadn’t noticed.”

Leon lets out a short laugh and pops open the boot, insisting on getting both bags so that Connor can knock on the door. Leon hears more than sees Connor’s mom, and he’s a little apprehensive. He doesn’t know what kind of people Connor’s parents are, and as much as Leon trusts Connor’s judgement, he doesn’t want to spend the weekend wishing he’d stayed to indulge in a Slovakian celebration with Nurse and the Europeans.

“Leon!” Connor’s mother says excitedly, ushering him into the house. Leon drops the bags a polite distance from the foyer and doubles back to greet her properly, readily accepting her hug with a smile. “I’m Kelly, Connor’s mom, of course. We are so glad you’re able to join us this year, I was just ecstatic when Connor told me over the phone.”

Connor laughs in a different way than Leon is used to, a bit warmer and more tired. “Yeah, you’re lucky I didn’t have a game the next day or I would’ve had to blame my lack of sleep on ya for how long you kept goin’ on about him.”

They make their way further into the house, and Leon watches Connor move around. The familiarity with which Connor navigates isn’t much different from when he’s in his own apartment, but his parents’ home has much more character and cosiness to it from all the random décor, and it’s clear Connor is comfortable.

Connor glances over at Leon with a lopsided smile, and for a split second Leon looks upset, but the expression is gone long before Connor can register it when Kelly calls Brian down. Connor’s dad joins them, and after exchanging curt greetings, Leon wanders over to Connor’s side.

“Does your dad not like me?” Leon asks quietly.

Connor smirks and pitches his voice up saying, “Aww, honey, I’m sure they _love_ you!”

Leon elbows Connor in the side and scowls.

“Trust me you’re fine. It’s just that two of Edmonton’s best players are in his house and he’s a die-hard Leafs fan. He’s probably very conflicted right now.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s it,” Leon mutters, lingering while Connor gets on making a fresh pot of coffee.

“Where’s Cam?” Connor asks his mother, leaning back against the counter.

“Today’s Christmas at his girlfriend’s family’s house, tomorrow is our day with them,” Kelly explains. “Do you boys have any plans for the day?”

Leon looks to Connor expectantly.

“Uhh, kind of?” Connor answers, turning to Leon to see if that’s okay. He shrugs, so Connor figures he’s game for whatever Connor has in mind. “We’ll head out in a bit, but I’m not in a rush.”

“Sounds good to me. In that case, Leon, I’d like to hear about you.”

 

The afternoon passes with Leon telling Kelly all about his family in Germany, and his journey from Cologne to Edmonton and what it was like leaving home so far behind. Connor feels a little wary, but he doesn’t want to overstep and interrupt, especially since Leon seems more than willing to share. At some point Kelly begins preparations for baking, and as much as Leon wants to help she shoos them out of the house so they can do whatever Connor had planned.

“Where to, Romeo?” Leon asks upon starting the car.

“Just follow my directions,” Connor answers cryptically. Leon lifts an eyebrow but complies, threatening to take back his earlier compliment about Connor’s direction giving when they almost miss a turn.

“Sorry, I got distracted,” Connor defends.

“By what?”

“… Some kid playing hockey in his drive.”

“Pff. Loser.”

They end up in the parking lot of an outdoor community rink.

“Okay, and what exactly are we doing here?”

“Skating,” Connor says slowly, in case it wasn’t obvious.

“Like shit we are,” Leon retorts. “You barely missed getting your ankle shattered literally yesterday.”

“I’m fine,” Connor huffs, getting out of the car. Leon hops out and circles the car, blocking Connor from going any further.

“I don’t care what you say, I’m responsible for you resting. I’m not about to let the team blame me for putting our captain out of action because he couldn’t resist a skate. And what about taking my mind off of hockey, huh?”

Connor jabs his index finger into Leon’s chest. “This. This is why you need to go. You clearly don’t remember the difference between skating for hockey and skating for fun.”

“Maybe I don’t, but now’s not the time to explore that. Get back in the car.”

“But it’s tradition! I do this every year when I come home, Drai. You don’t just break tradition! Come on, just half an hour.”

Leon glares at him.

“Fifteen minutes?”

“You’re a child.”

“Five?”

Leon sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “How about this: we go sit by the rink and watch the kids there skate around for a while. Under no circumstances are you setting foot on that ice, or _any_ ice for that matter,” he adds sharply when Connor gets a glint in his eye. “God, you’re somethin’ else in your hometown, kid.”

Connor finally settles, waving off Leon’s support the first time, but sheepishly wrapping an arm around his shoulder when he almost slips on a small patch of ice on their way to the nearby benches. “I don’t like this,” Connor grumbles.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have stepped in front of the shot like an idiot,” chastises Leon. “You could fucking hear the pindrop silence when you bowled over, and I swear to god all of us were frozen for a second till Looch shot into action. If you ever do something that stupid again, I’ll f–” Leon cuts short when a wide-eyed young boy skates by staring at them, and then proceeds to bump into a teenaged couple.

Connor laughs, and all the indignation drains out of Leon.

“You’re lucky that X-ray was clean,” Leon mutters, and Connor nudges him gently.

“I’ll try not to do anything dumb like that again. Sorry.”

Leon waves off his apology. “You don’t need to say sorry. Just be careful. We need you.”

They stay at the rink for the better part of an hour, even though the tips of Connor’s ears are going numb and Leon’s run out of funny made-up backstories to tell about everyone that passes them. A few people stop by to say hi, thankfully none asking for more than a signature.

“Come on,” Leon says eventually. “I’m taking you for coffee.”

Connor directs them to a local coffee shop where they serve customers that stay in-shop with an array of boisterous mugs and the employees know Connor by name – by virtue of him being a regular moreso than him being Connor McDavid. There are booths that are framed by glistening white tinsel and colourful fairy lights, decorated with delicately folded red paper napkins.

“These guys did a nice job,” Leon thinks out loud, and Connor hums in agreement. “Go sit, I’m going to pick something for you.”

Connor picks his favourite table, tucked in the back with a window that faces a small sideroad, the display window of the neighbouring electronics store painted with a jolly Santa. The painting changes every month, but no one ever sees who does it. It’s snowing a bit and Connor lets himself get lost in the flurry of flakes drifting to the ground, lit by a nearby streetlamp. He blinks out of his daze when he hears a mug placed on the table in front of him. Leon slides into the booth across from Connor and takes a look out the window.

“I can see why you like coming home so much.”

Connor shrugs, wrapping his hands around the mug (the all-famous ‘you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’ quote painted in white on a Leafs blue background. Connor wonders if Leon picked it on purpose). “It’s nice, but I couldn’t stay here longer than I do during off-season.”

“You’d miss hockey too much?” Leon asks with a knowing smile.

“You know me so well,” Connor deadpans, well aware of his own predictability. He takes a sip of the drink – something with cinnamon and what Connor would peg as praline – and slides down his seat a bit.

They don’t talk much, which isn’t a big deal considering how much time they spend together anyway, and at some point one of Leon’s feet ends up between Connor’s, but neither of them move. Leon takes his phone out and takes a picture of Connor taking a sip from his mug and sends it to the team’s group chat, and he quickly turns off his ringer when his phone starts chirping with replies.

Leon asks about Connor’s youth and what he was like in school, which is about as unsurprising as anyone could expect, but he manages to draw some silly stories out of him. Connor asks Leon what his was like, and Leon quickly shakes his head. “I was a good boy. I don’t have fun stories.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Connor says, sitting up with a newfound interest.

“Honest, I took my studies seriously so I could secure my hockey.”

“No way,” Connor insists. “You can’t be more boring than me. I’ll ask Kim.”

“Like hell you will. Also it’s cool that you got in contact with her for those gifts, but if you start getting sweet on my sister I will fight you, and I will win,” Leon threatens, but there’s almost no power behind it because he’s almost certain Connor wouldn’t try anything.

“As if I would. Besides, I have no game.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, Davo. You’ve got game.”

“Oh yeah? And what support do you have to that?”

“You brought home a boy for the family to meet,” Leon jokes, taking a few sips to wipe off his drink.

“Ha ha. Teammates don’t count. And don’t think you’re off the hook for stories of your childhood, I will crack you one day.”

“Is that a promise?”

“I don’t know, should it be?” Connor snaps back, and Leon huffs, grabbing Connor’s empty mug in one hand, his own in the other, and takes them to the front. Connor smiles when he sees Leon drop a hefty tip in the tip jar that’s nestled in beside an Elf on the Shelf.

They leave not long after, getting home just early enough for Leon and Connor to wrap up their gifts – some of which they bought on the way home – and put them under the tree before dinner.

“We normally do a movie marathon weekend where we all pick a different movie each year,” Connor explains as he and Leon help bring plates into the dining room. “This year I chose Slapshot–” Leon scoffs, and Connor shoots him a glare– “And mom chose Home Alone 2, because it’s the best, and Cam chose Charlie and the Chocolate factory.”

“That’s an odd pick.”

“He thinks it’s funny because when the movie first came out I had a weird nightmare about the Oompa Loompas…” Connor trails off, clearly not wanting to relive the humiliation.

“Classic brother move. And your dad?”

“Dad normally abstains from making the marathon run too long, so he ends up going for the most recent Leafs highlights reel at the end.”

“Nice,” Leon chuckles.

“Feel free to put in your own request,” Kelly chimes in, bringing in a bowl of mashed potatoes. “We normally split the movies over the two nights, so don’t be afraid to pick something long.”

“I might have something in mind,” Leon muses, and grins at Connor. “I’ll ask to go after your dad, though.”

“I feel like I should be scared, but of what, I have no idea,” Connor says hopelessly.

After dinner they end up in the living room watching Connor’s and Kelly’s picks, Leon settled on a loveseat next to Connor. Halfway through one of them, Leon ends up leaning his head on Connor’s shoulder, and even when Connor goes for a pee break, he sits back right down where he was before so Leon can reassume his position. Cam comes home at the end of the first movie and joins them, talking to Leon a bit before the next one starts up.

Neither of them really knows when, but Leon and Connor end up falling asleep against one another on the couch. It’s about 2:30am when Connor wakes bleary-eyed and gently shakes Leon awake. “Hey,” he whispers, “the guest room should be set, you can sleep there. C’mon.”

Connor leads Leon to the room, peeling back the covers so Leon can roll right in and burrow under the covers. Connor’s just about to leave to go to his own room when he hears a mumble that sounds like his name.

“Merry Chr’mas,” Leon mutters.

“Merry Christmas,” Connor replies with a smile. He sleeps almost as soon as his head hits his pillow with the vague feeling that something’s a little off.

···

Connor sleeps in later than he means to on Christmas morning and takes his time getting up. He chooses to shower before going down, so he’s not really surprised that Leon is awake and downstairs before him. He is, however, surprised to find Leon mid-pancake flip, bopping lazily to some Christmas songs Kelly has put on.

“Look who finally woke up,” Kelly greets, popping a tray in the oven. Connor gives her a quick hug then goes over to Leon.

“I see you got put on breakfast duty,” Connor utters, but his mother still hears and gives him a warning glare.

“That’s brunch to you, princess,” Leon replies, adding the golden-brown pancake to a small stack he’s got going. “And for your information, I volunteered.”

“You could take a lesson or two from him, you know,” Kelly chimes in, and Connor groans.

“God, you know I’m useless in the kitchen. Just give me some salad to cut if you really need any help from me.”

“Maybe later, Leon’s got that stack going for you. Go ahead and eat, honey.”

Connor says a guilty thank you to Leon and takes the plate, heading to the breakfast bar next to his dad who’s already eaten and now working on a large cup of coffee.

“Merry Christmas, dad,” Connor says, leaning over to bump shoulders. His dad smiles and tips his head over towards Leon and Kelly who are starting to get more into the music.

Then Leon starts singing along to George Michael and twirling Connor’s mom around, and the only appropriate thing to do is ask, “Did mom crack out the mulled wine early today?”

“Maybe,” Kelly answers, followed with a giggle. Brian rolls his eyes with an affectionate smile on his face and gets up to reclaim his wife, and Connor watches as his parents dance their way into the family room for a bit of privacy.

It’s nice being home; it always is. Connor was worried things would be weird between his family and Leon, and given that it was a two and a half day trip he didn’t really expect that phase to have time to pass should it have occurred. Thankfully it seems like Leon has experience in charming parents, and everything’s been pretty smooth.

“Did you sleep okay last night?” Connor asks, gratefully accepting the coffee that Leon places before him.

“Yeah, felt a little weird waking up somewhere else, but it was good. What’re we doing today?”

Connor finishes chewing the bite he’d just taken and swallows. “These are really good by the way,” he says, and Leon smiles brightly. “Uhh, I think just presents, movies, food, and it’s my turn to make a hot chocolate for everyone this year, so.”

“Oof, that’s the part I’m least looking forward to,” Leon teases, sliding into the seat beside Connor with his own plate.

“Don’t be mean, I’m actually good at hot chocolate, and you should know that.”

“Eh, it was alright.” Leon can barely keep himself from grinning.

“None for you tonight then,” Connor decides.

“No, no! My memory’s a little fuzzy, give me some tonight and I’ll reconsider my judgement.”

Connor pushes around some of the syrup on his plate with his fork, then brings it to his lips to lick it off. “Sure thing, but if there happens to be a spoonful of salt in only your cup, you can’t blame me.”

Once Leon’s done eating, Connor drags Leon to the garage. “I gotta show you something.”

“Is it your beat up wall?”

Connor frowns, but continues to take Leon outside. “Yeah, spoilsport.”

“Can I try?”

“Don’t see why not,” Connor says, opening the door to the garage. He holds back to call for his mom. “Hey mom, Leon’s gonna take a shot!”

“Alright, thanks for the warning!”

When Connor closes the door he finds Leon up close to the plywood, his fingers gently splayed across the splintered exhibit. “This is really cool,” he whispers.

“Yeah, it’s alright. Here, make your mark.”

Leon turns around and takes the stick Connor offers, noting that there is a bucket-load of them in one corner. Connor sets a puck down opposite the wall and lets Leon take his place.

“Here goes,” Leon utters. The puck makes it through the wall, of course, but Leon still looks over the moon about it. “So what do you say, did I earn my NHL trial?”

“Pretty impressive,” Connor reports.

“Does it make a difference that I got mine on the first try and you probably spent months hacking away at that wall?”

“Nah, I just weakened it for you.”

“Sure, sure. Hey, ask me what team I want to join.”

Connor lets out a long suffering sigh and begrudgingly parrots Leon’s question, and Leon has the most shit-eating smirk when he replies, “I’ve been keeping an eye on Edmonton because they’ve got a solid team, but I hear the captain’s a brat, and I’m not so sure I want in on that.”

“Oh my god,” Connor groans, shaking his head. “You’re banned, go home.”

“Oh what’s that, he can’t even grow a beard? What’s he going to do when he makes it to playoffs?”

“Fuck you, I grew one this season.”

“And shaved it clean off,” Leon retorts, disapproval heavy in his voice.

“Oh yeah, because I was really working that neckbeard look.”

Leon shrugs. “I’ve seen worse.”

“Well it’s a good thing you approve of it now, because you’re stuck with it for eight more years.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“You’re a delight, Leon.”

“So I’ve been told.”

They head back inside in time for everyone else to gather in the family room by the tree, and once Cam and Kelly have handed out everyone’s drinks, they all insist that Brian starts the rounds. Brian cracks open the first gift from Connor: a collection of three wines, one of them bottled in ’97. Kelly unwraps one next, a large one for both her and Brian from Leon. It turns out to be a personalized basket with (more) wine, a variety of cheeses and cookies, and a card tucked neatly inside. Leon urges her to open the card then and there, so she unwraps the plastic and does as she’s told, tearing up and turning to Brian to show him the two tickets to Maui for their anniversary.

“How did you know when their anniversary is?” Connor asks.

Leon’s simple answer is, “I have my own tricks.” He has to battle with Kelly a little to get her to keep the tickets, but she caves with little imploring.

Cam gets one of those ridiculous McDavid toasters from Canadian Tire and scoffs when he sees it. Taped to the box are a couple of season passes for the Lake Louise ski resort, and he gives Connor a proper hug for them. Leon’s next, opening his gift from Connor, which happens to be a scarf straight from the Oilers store with Connor’s dumbass face printed on it.

“Oh my god,” Leon says. “Why did you do this?”

“So you won’t forget my face, obviously,” Connor explains.

“I’m not _that_ much older than you, Connor,” Leon complains.

“Did you just get everyone something with your face or number on it?” Cam asks, scandalized at the idea. “What has the media turned you into??”

Connor drags a hand down his face and sighs. “I lost a bet with Darnell, so you can blame him.”

“Either we know each other too well or we have terrible luck,” Leon says, passing Connor the gift he got for him.

Connor finds himself staring at a garish orange and blue scarf with the number 29 repeated in an obnoxious pattern.

“You boys are too much,” Kelly mutters.

“Did you give your mom something with your face on it too?” Leon asks incredulously. Connor pouts. Kelly laughs, reaching for her gift from her son, finding a personalized apron with Connor wearing a chef’s hat on the front and ‘#1 SON’ printed below in solid black letters.

“Debatable epithet, especially after that gift,” Cam comments, which pretty much means he deserves the punch that Connor throws at him.

Kelly pulls out a jewellery box from the apron pocket and raises an eyebrow at Cam and teases him. “I’d think twice before you say that, kid.”

They keep going around until everything’s opened and the wrapping paper is sitting in a big pile in the middle, some of it salvageable for reuse. The best of the spoils include the mug Connor got from his dad that says ‘#1 DAD’, along with the cologne Cam got for Leon (“Get it? Cologne? Like your hometown?”). Somewhere between the wines that get poured out and the insufferable puns and bad jokes, the TV gets turned on and they settle on the couches with the fireplace crackling away. Connor vaguely wonders if that’s why he feels so warm inside.

 

After dinner, Connor heads to the kitchen to help Cam with the dishes and get started on the hot chocolate. Leon chooses to hover around Connor, monitoring the process to make sure Connor doesn’t somehow sabotage his serving.

“Nice touch, putting on Connor’s highlight reel after the Leafs’,” Cam comments, throwing Leon a grin over his shoulder. “Ballsy, I like it.”

“Thanks. I didn’t want Connor to feel like his dad loved Matthews more than he loves his own son,” Leon drawls, and Cam snorts.

“If he didn’t hate you before he probably does now,” Connor jokes while he carefully scrapes out a few vanilla beans. “Good job embarrassing me.”

“I was debating making it somewhat less humiliating by putting on one of our dynamic duo reels on, but I think I made the right choice.”

“Hell yeah you did,” Cam concurs. “Man, you can join us every Christmas if you pull shit like that.”

Leon rolls his eyes and grabs a few mugs from the cupboard as per Connor’s instruction, not entirely surprised to find that they’re almost all hockey themed.

Kelly joins them a few minutes later looking giddy. “Leon, I wanted to do something a little special for you,” she begins.

“Oh, Kelly, you really didn’t have to,” he insists, looking a little put out.

“Well it’s too late now.” She reaches into the oven that earlier stored most of their dinner, pulling out a tray of small bread-like loaves. “I made you some Stollen. I figured it would go well with Connor’s hot chocolate, and I asked Connor to get your mother’s recipe, so it shouldn’t be too terrible for my first go at it.”

“Oh, wow…”

“It’s just my way of saying that you’re welcome here, any time you like. We really enjoyed your company, and if you’d like, we’re more than happy to have you every Christmas. You’re part of the family, Leon.”

Leon’s mouth opens and closes a few times, and Connor’s attention is diverted when his hot chocolate begins to boil. He turns to reduce it to a simmer, the kitchen oddly quiet now. The next thing he sees is Leon excusing himself and heading upstairs.

Connor looks at his mom, who looks a little caught off guard. “Just watch the hot chocolate for me, I’m gonna,” he gestures towards the stairs, and Kelly nods.

Connor feels a little guilty for leaving his mom in the lurch like that, but he has a feeling he knows what happened and he wants to take care of this right now. He doesn’t even bother knocking on the guest room door since it’s not closed all the way and begins rambling before Leon even has a chance to face him. “I’m sorry if that made you miss your family or something, that wasn’t her intention at all. I asked her if she was sure about doing this when she asked me and she wouldn’t let up – you know what moms are like – so, I–”

Connor is cut off by the soft press of Leon’s lips against his own. He can’t bring himself to shut his eyes, his heart shooting to his throat, a million thoughts racing in his head, but mostly, _oh_.

It feels like it lasts a whole minute. When Leon pulls back his eyes flutter open slowly, and Connor’s heart flips in his chest. Things start to fall into place pretty fast, and suddenly Connor understands why he felt the urge to do all of this, from the first outing with Nurse all the way up to asking Kim for the Stollen recipe. It explains the amplified excitement he felt last year every time they scored, explains the uncalled rage that bled through him when Leon’s concussion was confirmed, explains the reason Connor laughs so damn _much_ around Leon. The crushing realizations pile up, and the soft look in Leon’s eyes is making Connor’s heart _ache_ until a single noise is forced out of him.

“Oh.”

Connor can hear his heartbeat, can feel it pulsing to the ends of his fingertips. He doesn’t know how to react, or what to do with the electrified space between them, or how–

“Connor?” Kelly calls from downstairs. Connor whips around at the voice and then turns back to Leon, his eyes wide.

“I should…”

He doesn’t wait a beat before rushing downstairs, uncertain of what he would do if he had to see Leon’s reaction to Connor’s poor response.

“Yeah?” he asks, breath harried.

“Honey, tell Leon that I– Oh, are you okay?”

Connor can feel the heat in his cheeks, and he scrunches his nose, his heart apparently not getting the message that he’s far from Leon right now. “I’m fine. Tell him what?”

“I’m sorry, and that if he wants to eat upstairs or… not or whatever, it’s fine. Is he okay?”

“I don’t know,” Connor answers, voice tight. He clears his throat, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. “I…”

“Yes, go, sorry, bad timing.”

Connor trundles back upstairs, equally unsure of what he’s going to do as when Leon kissed him – _Leon kissed him_. Half of him wants to run back downstairs and not face this onslaught of emotions, but the other half knows he can’t leave Leon like that.

Except he did, and he’s horrible, and he didn’t have half a brain in that moment and now Leon is gone. He’s not in the guest room – though at least his bags haven’t been moved – and Connor lets out an involuntary noise of panic. He heads back out, about to check downstairs when he runs into his brother.

“Watch where you’re going nerd,” Cam mumbles.

“Have you seen Leon?”

“Uh, yeah, he said he was going for a walk.”

“Tell mom to give out the drinks, I’ll be back later.”

“Okay?”

Without any further delay, Connor grabs his coat and puts on his shoes, rushing out the front door. God, he has no _idea_ what he’s doing. It’s not super cold, but thankfully there’s a lively flurry that makes it easy to track fresh footprints. Somehow he can’t see Leon, though. He must’ve moved fast. Connor follows the tracks as closely as he can, not thinking about anything except finding Leon. He doesn’t even know what he’s going to do when he _does_ find him, but that’s Future Connor’s problem.

Since no one else is crazy enough to be out on Christmas, it’s fairly easy to follow Leon’s tracks into town to Vince’s Deli. Connor feels totally out of his element, chasing a boy around town. He sees Leon at the counter chatting happily with whoever’s on the other side. Connor watches for a moment, his chest constricting without warning. Leon’s clearly not speaking English, and if the German flag above the cashier isn’t sufficient indication, the comfortable, worn expression he’s wearing is enough. Connor’s stomach twists in a way that makes him feel nauseous. He can’t bring himself to walk inside the store.

His problem is that he can’t leave either, so he sits on the curb and waits.

Connor thinks about how this is probably the only moment of the trip Leon is really enjoying, that everything else was too much at once and he should’ve just left it alone and this –  _this_ is why Connor doesn’t interfere. He rakes through the last 48 hours in his head, trying to recall any signs of discomfort that Leon might have conveyed, but Connor’s terrible at reading him and Leon has a way of making people around him see what he wants them to see in him. He worries until the tips of his ears go numb, and he feels dumb about not having brought a scarf, even the one with Leon’s number all over it and _god_ how didn’t he see it before?

He checks the time. It’s been ten minutes. He waits a bit longer until he loses feeling in his toes and decides he should give up and go home, so he stands up to begin his retreat.

“Connor?”

Connor stops dead in his tracks, then swings around to find Leon exiting the store, a small paper bag in hand.

Now or never.

Connor closes the few metres between them, but still keeping a safe distance. “Leon, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have brought you here without really making sure you wanted to, I imposed it on you and you’re clearly not comfortable here, it’s just reminding you of your family and what you’re missing out on. I never meant to make you feel worse about this than you already did. I only wanted you to be happier like you deserve.”

Connor means to say more, but only a small squeak makes it out of his throat beyond that.

Leon’s eyes have that soft look to them, almost like when they were back in the guest room but with a touch of sadness. “Connor. Let’s just go home.”

Connor’s stupid and totally misinterprets that, his eyes going wide.

Leon rolls his eyes. “ _Your_ home, Connor. Not Edmonton, jeez.” Connor lets out a long breath. “How long were you out here for?”

“… Not long.”

“Right. And why don’t you have a scarf?”

“Because I’m dumb,” he admits. Leon laughs curtly at that, and they start on their way home. Neither of them says anything more, and this time the silence between them feels heavy. Connor knows that Leon would be talking if things weren’t weird between them, but they are, and Leon’s staring intently at the ground.

God, he really is dumb. On an instinct Connor reaches for Leon’s hand, lacing their fingers together. He’s surprised by how right it feels, and everything from that second on feels like second nature. Leon shoots Connor a look, and when Connor doesn’t let go, he steps a bit closer so that their arms brush as they walk. Connor’s heart is racing every step of the way, even when they reach the drive.

Before Connor can reach for the door, there’s a knock on the window that overlooks the porch. Cam’s there, pointing up at the roof with a wolfish grin. Connor has a sinking feeling before he looks up, already knowing what it is, but he looks anyway to confirm his suspicions. A small piece of mistletoe hangs just by the entrance. He looks at Leon, who can’t seem to meet Connor’s eyes.

“We don’t have to… let’s just go in,” Leon starts with a tight smile, his hand halfway to the door handle when Connor catches Leon’s wrist.

“You don’t just break tradition,” Connor whispers. His entire body is thrumming, and the point of contact between him and Leon is beginning to feel red-hot. He doesn’t let go.

Leon blinks and then finds himself unable to keep from grinning, so he buries his face in his jacket until he can come up with only a small smile. Another knock sounds at the window, and they both turn to see Cam smooching the window. Connor flips his brother off just before Cam’s girlfriend drags him away. Connor’s cheeks flush pink as he turns his attention back to Leon, who’s a step closer than Connor remembers him being before. Connor’s gaze flickers to Leon’s lips, and as the space closes between them the water vapour grows more dense, obscuring their vision a bit until Connor’s nose is brushing Leon’s, and suddenly there is no cold, no air, nothing.

Connor brings up a hand to Leon’s cheek, and just as Leon’s eyes fall shut, Connor whispers, “Hey Leon?”

Leon opens his eyes in a daze, then he steps back very fast, his expression going blank.

“Hey, no, no, no,” Connor says quickly, reaching for Leon’s hand and pulling him back in again. “God, I have shit timing.”

“You think?” Leon huffs, the nerves clear in the shaky laughter that leaves his lips.

“Fuck. I’m sorry. I’m just… I’m really glad you came.”

“Me too, now are you going to shut up and kiss me, or do I have to make you?” Leon wraps his arms around Connor’s waist and tilts his chin up in a challenge.

Connor is stunned for a quick second, but laughs it off quickly. His heart skips a beat at the look in Leon’s eyes. He brings both hands to Leon’s face and moves closer until their breaths are mingling, then finally seals their lips in a gentle kiss. It’s a simple kiss, and Connor eventually breaks it, but Leon moves in for another that takes Connor’s breath away. Connor’s hands loop around Leon’s broad shoulders, and Leon presses up against Connor, deepening the kiss until he can taste a bit of the vanilla bean on Connor’s tongue that Leon saw him steal a taste of earlier. Connor makes a sound in the back of his throat when Leon pulls back, leaning his forehead against Connor’s.

“I believe we still have a hot chocolate for me to judge.”

“How can you even _think_ after that?” Connor asks incredulously, thinking it wildly unfair that Leon’s brain isn’t complete mush.

“It’s not my fault you taste like vanilla,” Leon responds in a low voice, stealing another quick kiss before breaking their embrace and reaching for the door.

···

Connor wakes up the next morning in the guest room, curled up against Leon with his head resting on his teammate’s shoulder. His heart pitter-patters briefly, but he smiles upon watching Leon who looks gentle, his hair splaying out at funny angles and his scruff growing out a little longer than Leon tends to keep it. There are so many things that he wants to do, and his first instinct is to give Leon a soft kiss to the forehead, so he does just that.

Connor settles back into his position just as Leon takes in a deep inhale and mutters, “Con?”

He freezes and squeezes his eyes shut. Leon rolls his eyes. “Connor, I know you’re awake, no one sleeps that tense.” Connor still tries to hold face. An idea pops into Leon’s head and he smirks, shuffling out from under Connor and turning to his side so he can place his hand on Connor’s thigh and slide it up slowly. Connor sucks in a breath and his eyes snap open, hand slapping over Leon’s to stop its course.

“Good morning,” Leon whispers. The only thing keeping Leon from grinning victoriously is the look in Connor’s eyes: a mix of irritation with a lot of heat. Leon’s about to take his hand back, but Connor grips it tightly to hold it in place. Leon raises his eyebrows, staring back at Connor with more playfulness than Connor has the patience for. Leon finds it fucking incredible and laughs airily, succeeding this time when he goes to reclaim his hand so he can bring both up to Connor’s face and give him a kiss that leaves both their heads spinning. He pushes Connor’s shoulder down so Connor’s lying flat on the bed and Leon’s half lying on top of him, dropping a few kisses down Connor’s neck before pulling back.

Connor whines indignantly, blaming his behaviour on his still-sleepy state of mind. He reaches to drag Leon back down towards him to no avail, but it makes for an amusing show. “No, I wanna talk a bit,” Leon says.

“But what was _that_ for,” Connor argues, pressing the length of his body up against Leon’s for emphasis.

Leon laughs low in his throat, his eyes wandering over Connor’s face. “I needed to get your attention and you weren’t about to stop giving me those bedroom eyes unless I gave you something, so.”

Connor groans and rolls his face over to hide it in a pillow, Leon watching with a fond smile. He tangles his legs in Connor’s and moves to pepper Connor’s face in a flurry of kisses, revelling in the way that Connor’s face gets redder. He pulls back abruptly and moves to sit cross-legged on the bed beside Connor. “Come on, let’s sit up.”

“But whyyy,” Connor protests.

“I can’t talk if we’re lying down,” Leon answers.

Connor grins mischievously and says, “Oh, am I too distracting?” He follows the question up by kicking the covers off of himself and stretching, preening under Leon’s hot gaze. Leon scowls and leans forward to tickle Connor’s sides, and Connor shoots right up. “No, no, no. I’m up.” He moves to catch Leon in another slow, lazy kiss before dropping his head down to Leon’s shoulder. He stays there for a moment, breathing against Leon’s skin and buzzing with how close they are. Eventually he pulls back to sit up straight and asks, “So what do you want to talk about?”

Connor hasn’t been anxious this whole time. He hasn’t flipped and totally lost it because everything about this just feels so right. He hasn’t doubted it so far, but this conversation that Leon wants to have is bringing up some nauseous sensations that he’s been able to avoid up till now.

They came inside last night rosy-cheeked and smiling secretively, but everyone had them figured out, and at some point in the night Cam whispered, “Get it, Con!” from across the room. Connor was mortified, but thankfully his mother was at least out of the room then. Brian made sure to shake Leon’s hand before they split ways for bed that night, and Kelly gave Leon a tighter than usual hug.

“I have something for you,” Leon said, and he ran to the foyer where he’d abandoned his jacket and brought back the small paper bag Connor saw him with earlier. Kelly looked at Leon with that disappointed mother look, but was clearly charmed all the same. She opened it carefully to reveal a porcelain doll. “It’s a Hummel figurine, they’re sort of a traditional German thing and… I wanted to get you something more personal.”

Connor melted almost as much as his mother did.

They were both unsure what to do about going to bed, and neither of them really wanted to split up, too desperate for each other’s warmth. So Connor didn’t hesitate when Leon started leading them both towards the guest room. They were tired and emotionally spent, falling asleep after a long session of slow, messy kisses.

Leon watches Connor closely, thinking carefully before speaking. “Why did you do all of this?”

Oh. That’s easy to answer. Connor starts on his spiel about wanting to do something nice for Leon and feeling bad that Leon couldn’t go home, but trails off when he feels Leon’s gaze boring into him. He sighs. “I… heard you talking on the phone to your family a while back. You sounded really upset, like I haven’t heard before, and…”

“There are so many of our guys that can’t go home for the holidays, Connor, I’m sure they all feel the way I do at some point.” He chews on his lower lip for a beat, then timidly asks, “Why me?”

“Oh. I– I mean when I… When I started I thought it was because I felt responsible for you. Because we’re McDavid and Draisaitl, and you were my liney, and I felt like I should look out for you. I wanted to cheer you up, and it seemed like a simple enough task, so I took it on.”

“And then?”

“Hmm?”

“You said when you started. Did it… when did it change, Con?”

“Last night. When you kissed me.” Connor realizes this is a bad answer and grimaces, quickly backtracking. “I mean – not. No, I… When you kissed me I realized that all of that responsibility stuff had nothing to do with it, and it hadn’t been the reason I was doing any of this for a long while. It just took that for me to understand. Because I’m stupid and I don’t know how to read myself.”

“Because you’re a robot captain not used to having emotions?”

“Yes. Something like that.”

“Mmm.”

“Listen, Drai, I’m sorry if bringing you here made you miss your family more, I didn’t mean for that at all.”

Leon looks at Connor as if he’s grown a second head. “God Con, you’re ridiculous. Have you been listening to yourself?”

Connor hesitates, feeling very confused. Leon cracks a smile, because Connor looks like a perplexed puppy and it’s so unfair how soft he looks. “Connor… This was perfect. The reason I left last night was because everything was so overwhelming and I just felt so _loved_ and I… I had to get out before I said something stupid. All these things you were doing for me, Con… Do you have any idea what you…” he trails off.

“What,” demands Connor, his heart thumping. “You aren’t the captain, you don’t get to hide behind the excuse of being an emotionless robot, you have to tell me.” He licks his lips and shuffles closer until their knees are touching, then brings a hand up to Leon’s face, brushing his thumb over Leon’s cheekbone. “Leon.”

Something in his voice seems to make Leon more certain of himself, because he takes a deep inhale and puts his hand on Connors, bringing them both down into his lap.

“Connor… I’ve been stupid about you for as long as I can remember. I didn’t like it at first, but then I grew into it because you’re just too fucking good, and I couldn’t hate you for that, so I…. I couldn’t help what I felt, so I just ran with it. Let it happen, thought I’d manage. And I did, for a long time. But then you did all of this, so much thoughtful stuff and I… You made it difficult for me to hold those feelings back.”

“What feelings?” Connor asks quickly, feeling lightheaded.

“Connor don’t make me say it,” Leon pleads.

“What fee–”

“ _Connor_.” He shakes his head gently. There’s no way he could handle admitting that he’s head over heels in love with Connor when Connor couldn’t possible say or feel the same, not when he only realized what he felt last night.

Connor seems to understand, his mouth forming a little o. He relents, and squeezes Leon’s hand in his own. “I’m sorry.”

Leon scoffs and punches Connor lightly. “Stop apologizing. God, you have nothing to apologize for Con, you’ve been nothing short of perfect to me and everything you’ve done has just made me fall for you more.”

Connor bites his lip hard to keep from breaking into a massive gummy smile. “You’re falling for me?” he asks, because he’s an asshole and he can’t resist.

Leon groans, falling back onto the bed in attempt to escape his shame. “Shut up. Shut uuuup oh my god.”

Connor grins, climbing over Leon and placing kisses along his neck, leading up to his cheek and then to his temple. “Are we done talking now?” he asks in a low voice, making it clear that he’s pretty much already decided the answer to the question regardless of Leon’s answer.

“Almost,” Leon says thoughtfully, and Connor sighs with pain, rolling over to lie beside Leon again. “What are we going to do when we get back to Edmonton?”

It’s a good question, important and weighted, but Connor is too dazed by the giddy feeling that hasn’t left since yesterday, and he’s more worried about exploring Leon’s body and the things that make his toes curl than things that might make his own stomach turn. “I don’t know. We can just… see how it goes and wing it?”

“Are you getting spontaneous on me? I remember my captain always wanting to have a plan for the smallest thing,” Leon chirps with a lazy smile.

“I like the sound of that,” Connor mutters, repositioning himself on top of Leon.

“Having a plan?”

Connor rolls his eyes and leans down until his lips are hovering above Leon’s. “Yeah, obviously that.”

“You’re really distracting,” Leon mumbles.

“Is that a problem?”

“A little,” Leon admits

“You talk a lot.”

“Is that a problem?”

“A little.”

“I’m just,” Leon starts, and Connor huffs, dropping his head to Leon’s shoulder. “This… means a lot to me and I don’t w… want to get into anything unless–”

“Leon.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m with you all the way.”

“Yeah?”

“Uhuh. Now can I ravish you?”

“Not if you say it like that.”

“Too late, I’m gonna ravish you,” Connor announces, letting his full weight rest on Leon, effectively pinning him against the bed as he goes in for a kiss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading <3  
> Please leave comments/kudos if you made it to the end :')
> 
> I am currently posting this from the car on the way to Banff for a ski trip and I could not resist bringing my laptop along because I really did not want to put off posting this any longer. Time to daydream about lovers on ski slopes.
> 
> Godspeed to our boys tonight.
> 
> If you want to cry with me about our boys and the season, or stupid music that suits these losers, find me on [tumblr](http://buckstille.tumblr.com) or [twitter](http://twitter.com/justfortrs)!


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